1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to search operations and, more specifically, to searching based on a user's context.
2. Description of the Related Art
Users of complex software applications frequently need to consult documentation, tutorials, and support resources to learn how to use the software and further their understanding of its capabilities. More recently, internet-based documentation from software vendors, professional third parties, and users themselves have become more prevalent sources of software application documentation. Conventionally, help retrieval is initiated by a user through keyword searches. In order to locate the appropriate help, the user must know or be able to find the appropriate resource and hope that the resource is of sufficiently high quality to answer their question. They must also know the correct name for the functionality that they are seeking or terms used by people discussing the functionality when searching user-contributed resources.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a technique for improving a user's ability to successfully search internet-based documentation.